China Tightens Grip On Uighurs

An eerie calm imposed by security forces has descended on Xinjiang, the site of three days of violent protests by Chinese Uighurs. The president of China, Hu Jintao, left early from the G-8 summit in Italy to monitor the uprising, and a communist leader from the region has pledged to seek the death penalty against those who coordinated the protests, The New York Times reports. At least 156 have died, though it is unclear whether the majority of victims are Han Chinese or Uighurs. The Uighurs' protests revolved around their anger at government-orchestrated oppression of their culture, such as incentives for Han Chinese to move to the region, the phasing out of the Uighur language at schools and "limits on religious practice."